Autoworld - Brussels

On our recent trip, we spent some time in the "capital of Europe", Brussels. The city is home to "Autoworld", a large automobile museum located in the heart of the Place de Cinquantenaire. Nice Testarossa out front too!

Entering the museum, this beauty awaits... the museum's special exhibition focussed on "60 Years of the Citroen DS". Not an especial favorite of mine, but a very cool car. North Americans might know it best as the car of choice of Patrick Jane, TV's "Mentalist" played by the uber-cool Simon Baker.

 

A couple of nice rally-prepared DS's.

The museum guides visitors on a chronological tour of auto history. Here's an early De Dion-Bouton.

Beautiful drophead Rolls-Royce.

Police Porsche 911SC Targa.

Sirens and low-slung lamps look pretty vulnerable to road hazards...

Some bubble cars mounted on the walls. BMW Isetta 300.

And a Messerschmitt.

Another 911SC with a tasty Alpine on the lift.

Bugatti!

Get a load of that tail...

Three wheels on my wagon... nice v-twin engine.

Very rare oval-piston Honda NR750.

Wacky Audi concept car with...

...dual controls!?!

The rather ungainly Lamborghini Espada. I never saw the attraction of these, to be honest.

A rather pretty Lancia, I thought.

Alfa Romeo Montreal. Like a 3/4 scale Plymouth Roadrunner, no?

Porsche 912.

Ah! Gorgeous Moretti.

A very awkward-looking body designed for a pre-war Bugatti chassis by a French artist.

Coffin-nose Cord.

It's a big car!

Tasty D-Type Jaguar in a faux pit.

Double-bubble top Abarth.

Porsche 550 Spyder.

Your correspondent.

 

Achingly gorgeous Toyota 2000GT.

Rear 3/4 view is jewel-like and stunning.

GT40, Renault F1 with Bugatti in background.

Can't get enough of that 2000GT!

"Michel Vaillant" formula car.

Vaillant is a bande-dessinee (comic book) character created by Jean Graton in 1957. His adventures revolve around racing and first appeared in the Tintin comic journal.

Now it's getting serious... Porsche 935.

Pets and small children have been known to get sucked into those fender air intakes...

Gorgeous Kremer-liveried 934 RSR.

Four-cylinder MV Agusta.

Renault Turbo mid-engine rally monster.

One for Andy T - Golf MKI.

Lovely Porsche 924 Carrera GT.

A "WTF" moment - Matra. Looks like the result of unholy congress between a Porsche 914 and a Lotus Elan...

Is this the father?

There was a gift shop also, of course! Lots of models and books.

 

View of the museum gallery from the second floor.

Obviously there was a ton of stuff in the museum that I didn't photograph. Many many "veteran" cars, horse-drawn carriages (!), and even a cool little gallery about the history of motorsport in Belgium.

 

I would highly recommend a visit to Autoworld if you're anywhere near Brussels. Admission cost was less than 10 euros for an adult and I felt I got more than my money's worth. The Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History is located right across the square, too, so enthusiasts of military history can kill two birds with one stone!

PCA Red River Ramblings - July/August 2015

We're back with another issue of Red River Ramblings! There's a summer event calendar plus reports on track days at Gimli racetrack, club drive out, buying a 911, and even a tech article on the 928!

Check it out here.

Bodywork, Decals, Fasteners and the R1 is Back!

Well, here it is... just after the Victoria Day long weekend (May16-18 for those of you keeping score) and my net riding mileage this year is... less than one mile (I had the R1 out for a spin around the block to make sure all was OK after the winter layup and oil change).

Why no riding? For one thing, the weather has been garbage - it actually SNOWED last weekend! Secondly, there's been a bunch of other stuff that has taken up time. BUT, I have done some work on the R1 to get it ready, if summer ever comes. First off - the hundred-dollar oil change with Motul full-synthetic bright-green oil. Clever bottles, clever colour, not so clever price. Next - getting my repainted right lower fairing and buffed out tailsection back from Corydon Autobody. Wes is a top chap and biker's friend, he even delivered the panels on a weekend. Thanks Wes! After that, installing the repro decal from The Image Works on said lower panel. And lastly, bolting it all back up with shiny new fairing hardware from Speedy Fasteners.

The oil change went relatively smoothly, except for the most important part - removing the drain bolt. It was stuck fast, so fast that I actually broke a (very cheap) ratchet trying to remove it. Time to call in the big guns... 24" breaker bar purchased from Canadian Tire, job done. The rest was cake; the filter loosened easily and new one went in its place, oil was filled and everything buttoned back up nicely. Sorted.

 

  

Wes from Corydon Autobody dropped off my panels on a weekend afternoon and they looked great - his shop did a terrific job on the colour match, as you can see. The next step was to install the fairing decals I'd obtained from The Image Works. That's the company that made the decals for our GSX-R1100 project and they are lovely, so I thought I'd get the replacement Yamaha decal from them too. The decal installed easily (it's best to use water and a credit-card squeegee for this job) and I'm pretty happy with the result. However the look is not 100% identical to the stock piece - as you can see, the aft end of the decal fades to the blue colour, while the stock decal ends the fade on greyscale. The other difference is that the stock decal is one piece - the speedblocks are all connected by a clear section. The replacement decal has each speedblock as a separate piece. I also needed to trim the replacement decal to fit around the holes in the fairing, but this turned out OK with the help of a hairdryer on "low" to stretch the decal slightly to tuck in around the edges. That's job two done.

The last thing to get at was to replace the fairing bolts. The originals were still serviceable - for the most part - but were definitely looking a wee bit crusty and well past their best. Speedy Fasteners sells a package including pretty much every single bolt and fastener you'll need for your fairings and bosywork - including windscreen hardware. They make their hardware out of genuine stainless steel with pan head Allen fittings. Installation was (mostly) just a matter of unscrewing the old and screwing in the new with only a couple hiccups along the way from fasteners that hadn't been unbolted since new. But these issues were easily dealt with and the look of the machine is much improved. Third job down.

 

 

 

 

Now the last - and most difficult - job looms. That's the job of finding some time to ride that intersects with decent weather to do it in. Stay tuned...

PCA Red River Ramblings - May/June 2015

Another two months goes by quickly, and it's time for Red River Ramblings again!

The latest issue features driving impressions of the new Macan S (hint: it's a very nice vehicle) and a summer event calendar for our local club.

Download and enjoy.

http://www.redriverpca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Red-River-Ramblings-May-June-2015.pdf

Cheers,

Dallas